Downing a tablespoon of peanut butter (not for young children) or sugar was the most common response, along with drinking lots and lots of water. Some other solutions were unusual to downright hysterical!

Colleen in Spokane, Wash., suggests: “Hide behind the person with the hiccups and clap your hands as loudly as possible.”

Kathy in San Antonio (from her dad’s Army days) recommends: “Hiccups in foxholes were quite a problem because they would echo. The soldiers would put a pen or pencil or anything similar across their mouth, hold it in place with the teeth and drink water. It works every time!”

Leslie in California uses our old standby, vinegar: “When I have the hiccups, I drink a small amount of white vinegar. One swallow does it. It’s not pleasant, but I think it ‘shocks’ the brain and taste buds so much that you forget to hiccup. It has never failed me.”

Elizabeth, via e-mail, puts in her two cents: “I taught school for 29 years and found this idea to help many students with hiccups. Use two straight pins, one in each hand.

Bring your hands together and try to touch the pointed tips together. It requires some concentration to keep the points touching. I suppose it causes one to relax the diaphragm, and the hiccups go away.”

And finally, our favorite hiccup helper, from Joan V. in Hammond, Ind.: “My way of stopping hiccups on other people? Just ask them, ‘What’s your uncle’s middle name?’ It throws them off, and the hiccups are gone.”